Stedman’s group believes the orcas would do a lot better if a protective zone was placed around a spot where the whales like to feed.

“They would have more peace and quiet, for resting, socializing, and especially feeding.”

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They are presenting a proposal to the National Marine Fisheries Service, asking regulators to consider a three-quarter-mile-wide zone off San Juan Island, including a no-wake zone to keep whale-watching boats back.

The activist group is now traveling around the state to garner support for the idea of a protective zone, and they are bolstered by a recent NOAA study that found boat noise was one of the primary factors hurting the animals, along with pollution, and a decline in Chinook salmon.

Michael Harris, with the Pacific Whale Watch Network, calls the idea of a protective zone misguided, pointing out that it was boat operators that came up with the 200-yard buffer rule already in place.

“The problem is salmon,” said Harris. “No fish, no black fish. If we can figure out a way to start putting fish back into the water, we can buy time for these orcas and we can bring them back.”

Steaman agrees the whales need more fish and less polluted water, but those goals could take years. A protective zone, he said, could be done almost immediately.

4 comments

During the last round of federal hearings, virtually all of the whale watch operators were opposed to the expanded 200m. rule, contrary to their current claim of “proposing” it. NMFS proposed the rule, Ken Balcomb and the Association opposed it. In the Friday Harbor federal hearing, one operator claimed it “would put them out of business.” Clearly, that has not happened. But to claim the new distance rule was theirs is a fabrication, when they fought it tooth and nail.

Jimmy

Not one word about Fukashima, not one. No newborn Orcas have survived more than a year in the Northern Pacific since 2011, look it up. You can blame it on the salmon, but it’s Fukashima. Goodbye apex predators.